Moon Club
by Mark 'Manix' Odell
Summary: The first rule of Moon Club is, you do NOT talk about it...Serena flashes back to work out where everything went wrong...
1. Contemplation

"This is it…Ground Zero. Any last words?"

I thought. It was difficult to say anything when you had a gun pressed between your teeth. Serena Tsukino, I thought, you've really got yourself in a mess now.

The gun came out of my mouth. When you've got a gun between your teeth, your speech is minimal.

"Um…nothing comes to mind"

Allow me to give you the low-down; we're on the top floor of Juuban High's tallest building, explosive charges in the basement will start a chain reaction, and then this school and six buildings belonging to reputable insurance and credit card companies will be reduced to rubble. How, I hear you cry, HOW did you get yourself knee-deep in such a mess? 

I'd like to ask myself that question too.

"This is going to be beautiful" the raven haired girl said, stepping away to the window, holding the gun behind her back. The Raven-haired girl…sorry, Rei Hino. "Only two minutes now"

"Look, Rei…"

"Don't want to hear it" Rei replied, sharply.

I was aware that my troubles began with Rei Hino…but the real root of it? Darien Shields. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. Not that it was his direct actions that led me here…Let's try to recap, shall we?

The self help group was a ridiculous collection of men and women feeling sorry for themselves; I think it was the Testicular cancer group I was at…the weird thing being, that nobody cottoned on that I was a 17 year old _girl_ who was there for kicks.

"Okay Serena…" the big guy said, wiping his eyes "…you cry now"

The guy was called Andrew; he worked down the local arcade, and I hadn't been aware he even had a problem…

"Oh Serena" he burbled in my ear, like a pathetic dog "My girlfriend's gone to New York, I'm all alone…and I'm ill!"

I bet he didn't have testicular cancer; it was just paranoia. 

Waitasec, let's backtrack further…

I was having trouble sleeping. My insomnia was leading me to lying awake all night on my bed watching ridiculous game-shows and soaps late at night…I find myself at school, with a pen in my hand and staring straight ahead at Miss Haruna. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out. It's a monotonous, self-deprecating mess. 

"Serena?"

I looked up.

"Hm?" 

"Have you done your work?"

"Uh nearly…"

She eyes me, and walks off. I stare after her. No reason, of course.

All of a sudden, I'm on the bus home. Then I'm in my room, with the phone in my hand, a plate of sandwiches in front of me; buying Morgan or Topshop stuff, ordering small pieces of pointless furniture from Ikea…my life consists of this, a consistency of moving images that link together to form an incomprehensible whole. 

One night, I was out walking; I caught myself wandering into a local hall, where a self-help group was starting their session. I slapped a sticker on my school lapel, gave myself he name of 'Doric' and sat down. It was a new beginning. This is where I met Andrew, where I got a new lease of life. I saw him sitting somewhere to my left, he looked bashful, and smiling nervously. He walked over to me, and put his hand out. I accepted it, and he took me into his arms, hugging me tightly to his chest. 

"Oh Serena" he poured out his heart and soul into my ear "…I'm such a failure"

Different from earlier, I know but repeating it would just make it as monotonous as my life. Suddenly…I felt a burst of emotion, and I started to cry too. We cried and cried and cried. All of a sudden, I can sleep. I became addicted, Tuberculosis on Monday nights, Incest Survivors on Wednesday, Testicular Cancer on Saturday, Bowel Cancer on Sunday…Suddenly, I was alive again. But then…_he _appeared.

Him.

Darien Shields wandered in on Saturday night, and without barely pausing to remove the cigarette from his mouth said

"This testicular cancer?"

He was there. Everywhere. Darien was there every night; I was angry, and felt lost…Suddenly, I couldn't sleep again. My insomnia had returned. Darien…Darien…that little itch on the roof of your mouth that would only _heal _if you stopped scratching it. He was a tourist. A faker. Like me. 

Damn it, why did he have to _ruin _everything? It wasn't fair.

On the Friday night, he was there, pouring some coffee for the break.

"Hey" I said.

He turned, looking down at me. I was way shorter than him.

"Hey" he replied.

"I'm onto you, Darien" I said, prodding him.

"What?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You're a faker" I accused "A tourist, you're not suffering from TB, Bowel Cancer or anything…"

"…neither are you" he replied, grinning a little.

"Hug again everyone!" A voice announced.

I reluctantly embraced Darien. 

"Don't do this" I urged "I need this, I can't sleep without these nights"  
"Neither can I" he replied, still icily "You're going to have to find some other way to sleep if you don't like it"

"Oh shut up" I spat, before we let go.

He shrugged, and put his bag on his shoulder.

"Sorry, no deal" he said, before walking out. 

I found myself following him into the bright, dangerous night.

"Darien!" I called.

He turned back.

"Why don't we select nights?" I asked.

He looked at me, and considered this.

"Sure; I get TB, Incest and Testicular"

"Nuh-uh!" I said, putting my foot down "I live for incest!"

He raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"I'm gone" he said, before turning away again.

"Hey!" I replied, running up to him "How about I get incest, Bowel and testicular, you get the rest"

He thought, and looked at me blankly.

"Okay" he said, in clipped tones "You got a deal"

Perhaps it was because of this weird relationship I was now in that I ended up meeting Rei Hino. This new way of thinking, Darien's whole interference…it's his fault. 

It was on the bus that I met _her_. Rei Hino.

END OF PART 1 


	2. Rei Hino

Minding your own business is an art in itself. Hands flexing, eyes ahead or slightly at an angle; this is an art I have perfected with style, and which I achieved with some success on the bus. But I heard a voice, a calm and strangely melodic voice. I wish now I hadn't listened.

"…in case of a crash, you will put your heads between your knees and keep calm" the voice said, bemusedly.

"Wha?"

I turned to face her. Wearing shades, outrageous fashion style, cool and sexy with raven black hair flowing down past her waist. She was smiling in amusement at a sign stencilled on the wall above her.

"Heads between your legs and keeping _calm_" she chuckled "What an imagination; humans are innately designed to panic, keeping calm is not an option"

"Surely it's there for security purposes?" I foolishly asked, getting into conversation with Rei Hino.

She turned to face me, slightly adjusting her shades so I could see her eyes.

"Naivety. No, it's there to distract people from the fact they are going to _die_"

I stared at her in disbelief.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well think about it" Rei said, changing her posture, so she was now crossing her legs "Would a transport company knowingly tell its passengers that in case of a crash, death is certain? It's like being on a plane, they inform passengers to put on oxygen masks…"

"To help them breathe of course" I added.

She looked at me as if I'd had an intention to piss against a wall.

"No. Oxygen…gets you _high_" she said, slowly. "Their expressions. They're all grinning as if they're on a vacation, and they're actually going to meet their maker"

I couldn't quite believe I was listening to this twisted logic, that this bizarre way of thinking was making…some kind of sense. It was hitting a nerve. I had prayed for the bus to crash, for it to experience some kind of accident…but I did have an accident. I met Rei.

"Who are you?" I asked.

She put her hand out.

"Rei. Rei Hino" 

She smiled, and pulled a small briefcase from under her seat.

"What you got in there?"

"Soap"

I blinked.

"What?"

"I work at the temple…but on the side? I make and sell _soap_"

She opened the briefcase, and I stared at the bars of soap, all labelled and organised properly, very much like my own life. Well, maybe not entirely.

"Where you located?" I asked.

She smiled.

"My card"

A small strip of beige card flipped in front of my face. I couldn't quite believe it, she had her own business cards too? I was aware that next to me was sitting an extroverted bundle of twisted nerves. 

I read the card. In small print 'Rei Hino, Temple on the Hill, Juuban'

"Whaddya know?" I said, shrugging casually "Near where I am"

Walls in Japan are thin. It's not helpful for when the next door neighbour's playing music too loud, or when there's a row going on next door. It's especially not helpful when your house and everything in it is sent with a fiery blaze into the night, as it did with me. I stared at my house, my weeping parents standing beside me. All that I had ever owned had been in there. Well, not _everything_. There had been some stuff I ke aside in my Aunt's house…but everything else was burning spectacularly, in the yellow and orange inferno that had once been my home.

"Oh Serena honey…" my mom wept "…our house is just gone!" 

"We'll have to find somewhere to stay" my dad added "Serena honey, have you got a friend you can stay with for a day or two? Like Ami?"

"Uh, sure dad"

"Call your father on his cellphone" My mom continued "We need to sort this out"

I smiled, kissed my parents and turned away. I walked in shock. My place of residence no longer existed. It had been deleted, like something embarrassing being airbrushed out of a photograph. I could call Ami…I turned to the phone. No, not Darien. No way.

I went to the phone, and made the biggest mistake I had ever made in my life _ever_.

I decided to call Rei.

I tapped the buttons, and waited as the phone rang through.

There was the sound of a receiver being lifted, and then a female voice.

"Hello?"

"Uh…hi. This is Serena"

A silence.

"Don't know ya"

"The girl on the bus? You know, the one you had the conversation about transport safety with?" I was sounding almost pathetic.

"Oh yeah…" she said after a while "…what's the problem?"

"Uh…can I explain somewhere else?"

Ed's Café was of Canadian origin, it was a good place if only frequented largely by older people. But here Rei and me were, in the crowded music filled atmosphere while we talked over our chocolate Fudge sundaes.

"…Everything!" I continued, I was aware I had been blabbing about all my personal possessions for nearly forty-minutes, but Rei didn't seem bored. She listened intently, it was obvious she was hungry for info about me. 

"Well it could be worse" she replied, taking a sip from her sundae "Some guy could cut your odangos off and throw them down the drain"

"Uh…true" I said, uncertainly. 

"It's stuff" she added "What you have? It's not what you _need_. We're part of a hunter gatherer society, all of us have basic needs to fulfil, and owning all kinds of clothes and furniture is not one of those"

I sighed. I was slowly subverting to her way of thinking.

"I guess so" I finally admitted "It's not _really _important, it's just…stuff, I suppose as you put it"

We finished a little later, we went outside as Rei finished off her sundae.

"Thanks for that" I said, thankfully "I guess I better find somewhere to stay, I'll go Ami's…"  
Rei turned to me, looking amused as she always did and almost exasperated.

"Ask"

"Ask what?" I replied, a little nonplussed.

"After two sundaes and you won't ask me? Why did you call me in the first place?"

"To talk"

"Look, if you need a place to stay all you need to do is _ask_" she said.

"Would that be okay?"

"If you don't ask I don't think it would"

"Can I stay at your place?" I asked uncertainly, thrown by this line of conversation.

"Sure" she said, casually. 

We walked out into the car park, before she stopped, and breathed in and out. I didn't know what she had in mind, I never did. A mind like Rei Hino's is not easy to fathom, and a lot of the time I didn't want to fathom it. 

"Do me a favour" she said, turning to me.

"Sure"

"I want you to hit me as hard as you can"

There was a long silence. A very long silence. I was having difficulty comprehending what she had just asked me.

"Wha…I'm…_sorry_?"

"I said" she continued, as if talking to a difficult child "I want _you _to hit me as _hard_ as you _can_"

"What the hell…?" I said out loud, completely confused.

"Look hit me before I change my mind!" she insisted, quickly.

Allow me to tell you a little about Rei Hino.

Rei Hino had part time jobs all over the place, she never really held anything down for very long at a time. Still, nobody noticed that she pissed in the popcorn when she worked at the pictures, or that she constantly spliced in stills from the more grotesque parts of _The Thing_. She was _the _guerrilla terrorist of the media entertainment industry. She probably ruined more hearts and taste-buds than most other human beings do in lifetimes. 

"Hit me!"

Back in reality.

"This is really stupid…" I muttered, pulling my fist back to ready a swing at her. I threw the punch. It landed in her ear.

"OW!" she cried, clutching her ear "JEEEZUS!! You hit me right in the ear!!" 

"Well, I'm sorry!" I retorted, angrily.

"The ear?! JEEEZ…"

"Look, I said I was sorry!" I continued, going over to her.

"No, that was just PERFECT!" she replied, grinning. Suddenly, her own fist cannoned hard into my stomach. It was agony, my vision disappeared for a moment as I staggered back, wheezing and clutching myself in the stomach.

I gasped against a car as she came over to me.

"How was that?" she asked, smiling unpleasantly.

"It…really hurts!" I managed.

Yes. The sheer truth. It hurt. It did hurt. And I liked it. It scared me that this felt so satisfying.

I launched myself back, not in anger…but out of the sheer desire to beat something to pulp.

It was long, and an extended fight. 

We sat there, a little bruised and cut. 

"We gotta do this more often" I said, handing her the coke bottle.

We got up, and walked off. To Rei's home. From here, things get worse. Much worse.

END OF PART TWO


	3. Welcome to Moon Club

The temple Rei stayed in wasn't just a little squalid; it was a wreck. I didn't know if she was staying or if she was simply squatting, what I didn't know or care. 

  "This" she said, guiding me to a pathetic excuse for a guest room "Is where you stay"

   I looked at it. It was filthy, the mattress on the futon was a mattress by name and only just by definition. Thankfully it wasn't torn or bug ridden, but it did look well slept on. 

    "Do I get sheets?" I asked, foolishly.

    She glared at me, before saying.

    "I'll give you a blanket" she said flatly, before disappearing for a bit.

Here, my strange life began. The temple seemed almost abandoned, we were the only ones in it more than often, apart from my parents who visited every now and then to see how I was. It went on like this, every day I went to school came back to the temple, went out to have a sundae with Rei and then we'd beat each other to pulp.

    My black eye and bruised cheeks attracted a fair amount of attention at school, but it was the fighting that really attracted attention. Every night, like a feeder drip more and more people started to come out and watch…before they'd join in, and indulge self-destructive activities with us. 

     I stopped going to the self-help groups; they seemed surplice to requirements now as the fighting gave me what physical kicks I needed. However, the fighting was taking a shape; it had a form, it was real…it was on the tip of everyone's tongues.

      We just gave it a name.

The cellar was rented from the guy behind the counter, he let us occupy this concrete room once a week for an hour, and that was all; an hour after closing time, various people would sidle to the cellar entrance and go to the ultimate stress relief.

    Moon Club.

 The room smelled, a familiar smell of sweat from a hundred boys and girls, all readying themselves in anticipation as the reeking staleness of the room got to everybody's noses; then the lights came on.

   Rei Hino stood there, wearing a tight shirt and training bra, smiling unpleasantly.

   "Ladies and Gentlemen…" she announced "…welcome to Moon Club. Here we fight"

   Some snickering. Then Rei started the rules; the rules that me and Rei had laid down.

    "The first rule of Moon Club is, you do not talk about Moon Club. The second rule of Moon Club is that _you do not talk about Moon Club"_

     Silence, everybody nodding.

    "When somebody is knocked unconscious or cops out, the fight is over; next rule is, only one fight at a time and no inter-sex fighting thank you"

    Some laughter. That had been my idea.

    "And we do not pay hospital expenses; if a person is severely hurt, then the fight _will stop."_

    There was an intake of breath as Rei stated the final rule.

    "And if this is your first night at Moon Club…" she grinned, sadistically "…you have to fight"

   The baying for blood, the trickle of it on the floor as knuckles meet faces; the exhalation of air and spit as fists impact into stomachs; the agony and the ecstasy, the winner and the often groaning loser, in a foetal position on the floor, splattered with their own life blood.

    I fought too; it was amazing that in times when you're very angry, then you can surprise yourself. I surprised myself by bringing some little bitch from the same year in my school to her knees, clutching her face. I think I knocked a tooth out.

    Fighting lasted one hour and only an hour, because after that injuries could become difficult. Moon Club went on; but things were made complicated. That was when Darien called me.

    It was one of those weekend days when Rei and I just talked and abused magazine articles; she was in the bath, I sat beside her talking nonchalantly to her as I cleaned a stain out of my school shirt.

    "Who would you fight?" I asked "Like, anybody who's ever existed?"

    Rei considered this, like an amusing taste in her mouth.

    "My dad" she said, finally.

    "Your dad? Why?"

    She shrugged.

    "I dunno; it just seems appropriate that a child and her father may indulge in a blood sport, he spent my life telling me what I should do, I did it…I think I earned something"

    I smiled in disbelief.

    "What about you?" she asked me back, I was thrown by that.

    "Me?" I thought "Um…I don't know really…"

    "Come on, think of something"

    "Um…well…." I considered "…Lita Kino"

    "Why?"

    "I think we've just wanted to knock the stuffing out of each other sometimes; we're great friends, but…for stress relief purposes"

    "Good answer" Rei said "When you choose who you fight, it's not because you hate them; it's for both of your benefit, nothing feels better than a bruise that was well earned"

      I stared at her, trying to wonder what kind of person possesses a mind like Rei Hino. 

     Then, the phone rang, loudly. 

      "I'll get it" I said.

    I went to the phone, and picked it up. 

      "Hello?"

      "Thought I'd find you eventually…", the suave voice said; I froze to the spot. "…you haven't been going to your meetings" 

      "How the hell did you get this number?" I hissed.

      "I found it. I knew you'd been hanging around the temple…"

      I clasped the phone in my hand, swearing to myself.

      "I'll call you back sometime" I said "But right now I'm kinda busy, Darien" 

     I put the phone down. My biggest mistake was that I didn't slide it back into the holder where it should have been; the line was wide open.

      "Do you know what a death choke sounds like…?" the male voice continued; Darien Shields was the only person I knew who was about as weird as Rei Hino, but hell – if I wasn't weird, I would be doing something sensible and not hanging out with the world's freakiest teenage girl in a total dump of a temple going out every night after school to indulge in blood-sports. 

        I was in another room. But Rei picked up the phone.

   The sounds were appalling. I'd never heard people have sex before, well I knew something about it, I had had one or two boyfriends before, but from what I knew it shouldn't sound like this. Plaster filtered down gently from the ceiling as the place shook violently. I clutched my magazine as if I was hanging on to a railing in a hurricane; concentration is hard, particularly when two people you know are totally weird get together in one room and indulge in rampant sex for an entire night.

   From what I knew afterward, Rei picked up the phone and headed around to Darien's place. Darien claimed to be committing suicide, but his unhealthy and twisted demeanour suggested that he was enjoying it more than anything.

    Rei was an attractive girl; and Darien seemed just right for her. Somehow Rei had got him back to the temple…and they were at it like minks.

     It wasn't sexually frustrating to me, it was that sort of feeling you get in a thunderstorm, hoping it ends for the sake of your sanity. All night. Rei shrieking, Darien grunting very loudly…I hated the sound of it, it was grotesque.

      In the morning, I was washing up our dishes so that we could have some clean cutlery for a change, and Darien stumbled in with a robe on, grinning broadly.

     "Maaaaan…" he sighed, with a lascivious grin "…Heh. That was amazing"

     I looked at him aggressively.

     "What the hell are you doing here?" I asked.

     He stared at me for a beat, before he grabbed his trousers, pulled them on and then his shirt.

      "Fuck you bitch" he said, before storming out.

    Why…? I stared out of the window as he jogged down the steps of the temple, in bewilderment. What had I done? What exactly was I responsible for in his book? At that moment, Rei stepped in, laughing to herself.   

      "That boy…" she said, shaking her head "…is one you're going to have to avoid, my girl. He's the most unbelievably twisted guy I've ever met; steer well clear"

       I shrugged; it was Saturday, nothing was going on so I was allowed to stay in today. Mom and dad would be meeting me at a café sometime today, so I had to have some clean clothes on. The temple had working applications, but it wasn't luxury exactly. 

       She looked at my hands, all lathered up.

    "We're runnin' out of soap, huh?" she asked.

    "Yeah" I replied.

    "I think therefore, we'd better pay a visit to that liposuction clinic"

    I stared at him, not understanding. I'd never bothered to ask what Rei made her soap out of…I was starting to get a sickening idea….

     "Wha?"

     "To create soap, we must acquire human fat" Rei said with a smile.

     _Hold on ladies and gentlemen, and acquire crash positions…  _

     This was only stage one; believe me, Soap and Moon Club will make sense to you in the end. But for now…remain as confused and screwed up as I was. 

END OF PART THREE


End file.
